Speaker recommendation please

Hi guys,

Through college I was quite the installer and fabricator, and worked at a local custom shop. Somewhere I have a box filled with trophies from my IASCA days. The last stereo I installed was about 7 years ago, in my personal car, which is still my daily driver. It's a MB E class with a Clarion Pro Audio head and changer, Focal components in the front, Focal coaxes in the back, A/D/S amplifiers, a JL 12W6 sub, and I can't remember who made the EQ/Xover.

That was long ago, and I have not been in the scene since.
My other car is a 91 Mazda Miata, in desperate need of speakers. Right now I have a Pioneer Premier head in it. I also have 2 pr of head rest speakers, waiting to be installed. I need to pick up a set of 6.5" coaxes for the front doors and a pair of 8" IB subs/midbasses for the rear deck. I'd like something that sounds OK, but the goal really is to sound OK with the top down at 80mph. I haven't opened the door panels yet, but I assume that there isn't much room in there. I don't have any equipment at the house to fab MDF rings. And to complicate things, I don't have much money for this project (I already spent it all on the intercooled turbo and engine management)

Can you recommend a couple of speakers for me to audition? In my day, I'd probably have looked for CDT coaxes for the doors and IDQ 8's for the rear deck. This car is small, no real room for much. I have an old Alpine 4 ch amp I'm going to use for the project, I beleive it's 35x4. Plan was to bridge it down and power the 8's, but if I must, I'll run it 4 channel to the door speakers and 8's.

Re: Speaker recommendation please

- Might need long excursion subs and a lot of power to get bass out of that little convertable... it might be better to put a box with bigger subs in the trunk if you can.

For components, try to find Pioneer TS-C720PRS, and Kicker SS series to listen to. If you like the sound of the Focals, the Cerwin Vega V-max 65 sound better than the Focal K2P series and cost half as much.

Re: Speaker recommendation please

Originally Posted by Gary S

- Might need long excursion subs and a lot of power to get bass out of that little convertable... it might be better to put a box with bigger subs in the trunk if you can.

For components, try to find Pioneer TS-C720PRS, and Kicker SS series to listen to. If you like the sound of the Focals, the Cerwin Vega V-max 65 sound better than the Focal K2P series and cost half as much.

Thanks for a response Gary. I'll go listen to the speakers you recommended.

A sub box in the trunk is not an option, nor is a large footprint amp. No room in this car, and it needs to stay light for track use.

Any rec's for 6" or 8" IB midbass/subs? Looks like this old Alpine amp I have is good for 30 x4 or 90 x 2. I'll probably run 2 channels to the front speakers, so I'll have only 30-45 watts for each rear. Deep bass extension isn't going to happen, but I'm sure I can get more "punch".